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Is there a single right way to run a home care agency? We sure don’t think so. That’s why we’re interviewing home care leaders across the industry and asking them tough questions about the strategies, operations, and decisions behind their success. Join host Miriam Allred, veteran home care podcaster known for Home Care U and Vision: The Home Care Leaders’ Podcast, as she puts high-growth home care agencies under the microscope to see what works, what doesn’t, and why. Get ready to listen, learn, and build the winning formula for your own success. In the Home Care Strategy Lab, you are the scientist.
Miriam Allred (00:49)
Jennifer, we are live at HCAOA and we are sitting across from each other and I, you have been so kind to me over the years and it's my pleasure to have this conversation with you. for those that don't know you very well, introduce yourself, background, organization. Okay. us a little history.
Jennifer Axelrod (01:08)
Great. ⁓ So I'm Jennifer Axelrod. I'm with A Place at Home. It's now my third year. Can't believe it. ⁓ I've been in franchising for over 15 years, working with franchisees, and that's really my passion. But my God, when I started in home care, it just changed my life. It really did. And, ⁓ you know, people say that when you jump into something different, it can be about money, it can be about impact, it could be about a bunch of things.
Everyone that knows me, knows my passion is franchising and now it's home care and really senior care. You know, I had a personal, obviously connection like most people when they get into this business. My grandmother suffered for, you know, 10 years with Alzheimer's. We put her in a nursing home. Visiting her was just horrible for me as a granddaughter. And when she stopped recognizing me and all that kind of stuff.
But I was really in tune to how the care was in that place. you know, I have like really bad memories, you know, walking into that building and seeing a woman there every single time. And then she's just sitting in the wheelchair doing nothing. And then one day she's not there. And so, you know what happened, right? So, I mean, home care is a very difficult business. I've learned that a lot.
I listened to you so many times and no one really chooses to go to school to go into a home care business, but it is so rewarding. rewarding. And so I'll just give you a little bit of what's been happening with me at A Place at Home So I came in as a franchise business coach and I loved it and I still love it and I still coach, ⁓ but I merged into a dual role.
And now what I'm doing is I'm heading up partnerships and national accounts to really push strategic growth. And I've been very successful in that. I love it. I feel like I'm now in my niche. And what it really does is it builds those relationships at a top level to make it easier at the local level for our franchise owners. And we're really seeing some traction and we're having huge growth, which is exciting.
and helping so many people and impacting so many lives.
Miriam Allred (03:38)
And you are really a people, people you say you love franchising and coaching. Like you are just a people, people, which is so compatible for home care all the way down to the caregiver role. You've really taken to the people you're helping people that help the people, but helping the caregivers in their role and making sure that they're thriving and that they are taken care of and that they have what they need. so the question that I want to ask you is around attracting and retaining kind of top
talent, you work with all of these franchisees. And so you see some of the strategies and tactics that they're deploying. And so I want to ask you, what is one tactic best practice that you see working really well to attract and retain these caregivers?
Jennifer Axelrod (04:22)
It goes right back to culture and building a culture of recognition. And you have to be intentional from day one. ⁓ you know, and marketing is my background and sales and all that. So when you comes into the recruitment part, you have to really attract and target the right people. we know that caregivers are all different ages. come from all different backgrounds, but they have the passion.
for what they're doing. They don't get in this for the money. And people think that people stay for the money. And if you pay them more, they're going to stay more. Well, we all know that caregivers is always an issue with home care businesses, keeping them, retaining them, having enough people to do staff, all of the shifts. ⁓ But it's not about money. It's about recognition. It's about how they feel.
It's about how we can treat them. Are they seen? Are they heard? ⁓ Do they get that recognition culture? And you can start that right at the beginning in the recruitment process from the ads to the social media posts to what you can offer. Some of our agencies will offer startup bonuses, ⁓ incentives, benefits. I mean, obviously it has to do with
how much money you have as a home care owner and what you can devote to those people. But I do remember last year, and I came to your session when you had real caregivers sitting there and telling us what they want. And that's the most important thing is what do they want? How do they wanna be recognized? And it's not about the money. It's about, you know.
Miriam Allred (06:11)
the handwritten
cards. That's what they shared earlier.
Jennifer Axelrod (06:13)
Handwritten
cards are beautiful. Remembering their birthday, doing a social media spotlight. Now, this is interesting because some people will just throw their name up there and they'll say, caregiver of the month. That's not impactful. What's impactful is to do a story behind it. ⁓ Video. I'm a big fan of video. I wish all franchisees would just do video all the time. ⁓ But you want to show something that's going to engage, that's going to bring emotion.
Another thing is caregivers can be your brand ambassador. If you treat them right, they're going to sell for you. And I've seen this. Invest in them, invest in what they want. And, you know, we do a great job at A Place at Home because we ask them, what is their career journey? Like that's another thing is caregivers. This is your part of our team. You're not just a, you know, paid labor.
This isn't McDonald's, this is caregiving. And so when we reward them with gas carts, that's another thing they really like. Recognizing their birthday, their anniversary in a big way, not a small way. Recognizing the holidays and trying to get them to come into the office. And we know that's difficult. ⁓ It's really, you know, it goes right back to even where you start out with clients, meet them where they're at. Right? So.
The culture's changing, technology's changing. We have to adjust to that. We need to come to them sometimes for the interview if that's what works. ⁓ You know, it's just make them feel seen, heard. They'll be your brand ambassador and then they can grow with you. One of the nice things, and I always go back to stories because stories tell so much. One of the owners that I coach...
⁓ she just allowed one of her caregivers to get their CNA designation and she helped provide the financial piece to make sure that happened. And she goes, okay, now she's certified and let's see. So amazing that they infested in her and she goes in now I'm going to groom her for something else. And that's true leadership. It's true culture. It's everything we stand for at A Place at Home. And ⁓ look,
Caregivers are the heart of this business without them. have nothing So we have to treat them, right? We have to help them as much as we can and Really pay attention to what they need know who they are Know their families know the names of their children Know their situations make your your office an open door that they can call you and you're gonna pick up or at least someone on the team
is gonna be there when they need them and educate them well, train them well. And as you scale, you wanna invest in technology to help you. So if you can't remember 50 different birthdays, technology can do that for you and kind of automate it.
Miriam Allred (09:16)
And
a couple of things that I would add with building a culture of recognition, consistency. I see a lot of companies put nice things in place for a period of time, and then it fades away or it's too much to manage and they can't maintain it. So consistency and then longevity. Again, finding things that work and putting them in place and making sure that you can scale them over time. But then like you said, checking in with the caregivers regularly because things change.
Their desires change, the things that they value change. You hire, you have an influx of caregivers and those caregivers have different preferences, needs, desires than, you know, six months ago. So it's putting things in place that can scale, but also checking in regularly and keeping it consistent.
Jennifer Axelrod (10:02)
putting processes into place, put a retention process in place that somebody, maybe it's not the owner, is checking in on those caregivers and asking them how they're doing. Whether it's a tax or a call, it is a regular regimen that they basically commit to. ⁓ And you're checking in on them, rewarding them. ⁓
And then it goes back to also giving them a chance for growth. And that means, you know, doing touch points and reviews for raises, because they really need those raises. And one thing I remember from your session is if you can't financially provide what they need, let's say they need benefits, grow with us. I promise you, as soon as we can afford it, you're going to get what you need.
And then that's trust. So it's trust, it's feeling like family. ⁓ know, pay gets them in the door. Heart keeps them in.
Miriam Allred (11:06)
And you work with a lot of these owners, operators. What is holding them back from building a culture of recognition? Again, I think we've come a long way as an industry, but what are their obstacles to doing this and doing it well?
Jennifer Axelrod (11:09)
Yes.
Like
⁓ I think that owners get so wrapped up in the day to day that they forget about those tiny details that makes so much impact. And it's really about setting that cadence. And we talk about this with referral marketing. Unless you set the regular cadence and stick to it, that's self-discipline. Or you make sure that you have a team member that looks after this, an operation manager. You have to stay consistent. You have to measure too.
Because we know that caregivers are going to talk to other caregivers. They're going to refer other caregivers. They're going to refer clients. And then it comes right back to surveys, satisfaction surveys. They're going to tell the truth. They want to be trained appropriately. They want to be prepared. ⁓ One of the great things that ⁓ a great tip is also just give them cheat sheets. Like if they've never worked with a dementia patient.
then maybe you give them what to expect. And obviously, in case you need this, here's where you call. Someone will answer.
Miriam Allred (12:27)
You know, what's coming to mind right now is we, in the industry, oftentimes lump recruitment and retention. like lump it together, but I actually think we're doing retention and disservice by lumping it into recruitment because recruitment is so urgent. It's so pressing. It's top of mind. We'll always be recruiting. Like we literally say those things in the industry, but I actually think recruitment and retention are two different things that deserve.
their own time and attention and focus. again, I think sometimes we do retention of disservice by lumping it into the recruitment topic.
Jennifer Axelrod (13:01)
No, I love that because they are different and you really have to strategize and have a real strategy for your recruitment and how you're going to recruit them in, how you're going to market to them, to get them in the door, to not just have a no show because we know that that's an issue. And retention is the key. It's the key to keep them happy, to keep them staying, give them the hours. ⁓
you know, invest in your business to be able to grow so that you can provide more opportunities for them. ⁓ and I'm sure you've talked about fractional care with some people already. I think that's a huge opportunity to give them steady hours, steady clients, easy work in and out, and then also be there in case that full personal care is needed, you know, and, and
They love their clients, the real ones that have invested so much into this business. And they see them as family. They take care of them like family. isn't that what we all want? We want someone to, if I can't look after mom, then I need this special person to take care of my mom.
Miriam Allred (14:16)
So one last question to wrap this up. Sure. You're, talking to a room full of owners that have kind of a loosey goosey retention program. What, what advice would you give them to like tighten that up, formalize it? Again, say they have something okay. And like in place, you know, imagine you're coaching them, like what do they need to do right now to tighten up their retention process?
Jennifer Axelrod (14:36)
go back to the why you're doing it. I would coach them again on the reward of what they're trying to get to and really just go back to the process. It has to be documented. It has to be documented. Everybody in the culture has to know that retention is a part of our business. We have a process, we follow it, and this is the reason why.
Miriam Allred (15:00)
was really well said. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining me live at HCA Way and talking about recruitment and retention. A lot more to be said on this. What's the best way for people to get in contact with you if they want to learn more?
Jennifer Axelrod (15:09)
absolutely,
it's Jennifer Axelrod. I'm going to spell it because people get this wrong. jenniferaxelrod@aplaceathome.com
Miriam Allred (15:18)
Fantastic.
Thank you so much for joining me. you.
Jennifer Axelrod (15:34)
you ⁓